Home > Auctions > 23 - 27 May 2023
Ancient Art, Antiquities, Natural History & Coins
Auction Highlights:
From an important North London collection formed before 1980.
Acquired 1970-2010.
Collection of a late Japanese gentleman.
From the collection of an EU gentleman formed in the 1990s.
Acquired on the UK market.
From the collection of an EU gentleman formed in the 1990s.
Acquired on the UK market.
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s.
East Anglian private collection.
Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
Cf. Arendt, W. I., Granaten des 13-14. Jahrhunderts, die an der Wolga gefunden sind, Zeitschrift fur Historische Waffen-und Kostumkunde, 11 (1926-8), p.42; cf. Arendt, W., Die Spharisch-konischen Gefasse aus Gebranntem Ton, ibid; cf. Ayalon, D., Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom, London, 1956, p.16.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. Such were the γανωτα, vessels (sometimes also of bronze) used for Greek fire. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form.
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s.
East Anglian private collection.
Cf. Friedenberg, D.M., ‘The evolution and Uses of Jewish Byzantine Stamp Seals’ in The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, Vol. 52/53 (1994/1995), pp.1-21, figs. 18,18b, for similar stamps.
Museum collections hold many stamps or seals of different forms, materials and shapes, some bearing inscriptions or images. These could have been used on bread, dough or on fresh clay to stamp amphoras, bricks, lamps and other clay objects.
Private collection formed since the 1940s.
UK art market.
Property of an Essex gentleman.
Cf. Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 583.
From an important North London collection formed before 1980.
English collection, 1990s.
Ex North London gallery.
From a UK collection, formed 1970s.
The Kusmirek Collection, UK.
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
Acquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
577 - 588 of 2508 LOTS



